SINGAPORE – Imagine receiving an e-mail from a person who claims he has screenshots of you watching pornographic materials, and threatening to expose you to your friends and family unless you pay money. The police said on Monday (Oct 29) that they have received more than 15 reports of such scams since September this year. The e-mails would either come from unknown accounts or accounts that resembled those of the victims’. In all cases, they demanded that the victims pay a ransom in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. In some cases, victims…

SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old police national serviceman will be charged in court on Tuesday (Apr 3) for submitting claims for days of In-Camp Training (ICT) that he did not attend. The false claims were discovered on Nov 9 last year, said the police in a news release on Monday. The man had submitted claims for attending ICT, even though he did not complete the duration of the training. He had also falsely claimed that during the period of his ICT, he was employed by a company that he was, in fact,…

File photo of a man looking at the computer screen. (Photo: Xabryna Kek) SINGAPORE: The police have been seeing more reports of scammers impersonating Government officials to obtain SingPass credentials of members of the public, they said on Friday (Aug 18). In a joint crime advisory with SkillsFuture Singapore, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said they had received at least 10 reports on individuals impersonating Government officials and going door-to-door to promote the use of SkillsFuture Credit since July. The scammers mostly targeted elderly retirees, the police said. They requested…

SINGAPORE: Singapore is stepping up its checks and patrols at key locations such as the air, land and sea checkpoints, transport nodes and its waters, following the attacks in Manchester and Jakarta, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday (May 25). The ministry said in reply to questions that it will continue to monitor developments closely and “calibrate security measures” according to the threat environment. It added that everyone has an important role to play in keeping Singapore safe, and reminded the public to call the police at…

An employee with the Singapore Police Force has found herself the unwitting star of a new email saga in her workplace, all because she accidentally clicked the “Reply All” button in her response to a colleague’s email. According to a screenshot posted by a Reddit user, the netizen had mistakenly sent the not-so-discreet email to colleagues working in the SPF, SCDF, ICA, SCORE, CRA, CNB, MHA, HTA, acronyms which refer to Singapore government agencies that are found under the umbrella of the Ministry of Home Affairs. While such mistakes might…

SINGAPORE: A cybersecurity operation has uncovered hundreds of malware-infected websites – including government portals – across Southeast Asia. In a statement on Monday (Apr 24), the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) said that the Interpol-led operation identified “nearly 9,000 command-and-control (C2) servers and hundreds of compromised websites, including government portals”. Command-and-control servers can be used to control malware – malicious software, which can include computer viruses, spyware, and other malicious programmes. “Analysis identified nearly 270 websites infected with a malware code which exploited a vulnerability in the website design application,”…